Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » 2006

Tuesday, Dec 5, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Is this Gov. Blagojevich’s mini version of the midnight raid on Meigs Field?

At the height of the season’s first major snowstorm Friday, a contractor began demolishing houses the state had acquired in the pathway of a proposed airport near Peotone, sparking charges Monday from area residents of a sneaky double-cross.

The residents and two officials from eastern Will County accused the Illinois Department of Transportation of reneging on its August agreement with two state legislators that no more demolitions would occur unless the vacant homes were found to be unsalvageable for future renting.

The IDOT contractor razed three houses Friday morning and Saturday in Will Township, crossing over private property without permission to reach one of the houses, said Township Trustee Rocky Batterman. Up to 11 other properties are slated for teardown.

“We believe that this was all planned to be done during the snowstorm where they would not be able to get any [media] coverage,” Batterman said.

State Rep. Lisa Dugan (D-Bradley) said she and state Sen. Debbie Halvorson (D-Crete) were led to believe the homes would remain untouched until IDOT provided a cost analysis of each property. IDOT officials had said some of the homes were vandalized and would be too costly to repair, but Dugan said she wanted to see the actual figures.

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Storm politics

Tuesday, Dec 5, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

If the storm had hit a few weeks ago, there might have been more votes on the rate freeze bill.

Four days after snow and ice shut down much of Decatur, many residents remained in the cold Monday as Mayor Paul Osborne raised the heat on the power company.

“We need to know the true story,” he said, lashing out at Ameren Corp., which reported 243,000 customers in Illinois and Missouri, including 40,000 in Decatur, without electricity Monday evening.

“You can issue a news release saying you are working on it, but there needs to be a more visible sign,” Osborne said. “I understand there are hundreds of crews working, but people don’t see them.”

Ameren spokesman Leigh Morris called the mayor’s statements “erroneous.” The company has enlisted about 7,000 workers, including 300 in Decatur, to restore power in the 300-mile area hit by the storm, but completing the job could still take several days in some areas, Morris said.

Ameren claims that continuing the decade-old rate freeze could hurt its ability to offer services, but there are a lot of unhappy downstate legislators right now, so they need to get a move on.

Do you have any good ice-storm stories to share?

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Question of the day

Tuesday, Dec 5, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Rate the year’s biggest winners and losers. List as many as you want, but explain your reasoning, please.

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Open thread

Tuesday, Dec 5, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

I’m on a panel at the Union League Club this morning, and I need to get there right away, so there won’t be any blogging until later this morning. There doesn’t appear to be a whole lot happening right now anyway, but use this as an open thread on the day’s news until I return.

Oh, and try to be nice.

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